Girls basketball: Lake Worth girls hold off Santaluces

Lake Worth’s Recilia Nonnombre (10) and Santaluces’ Brittney Howell (21) battle for control during the Trojans’ win over the Chiefs on Thursday night in Lake Worth. (Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post)

The heat was on in Lake Worth on Thursday. Or, more specifically, the air conditioning was off.

The air conditioning in Lake Worth’s gym malfunctioned, wearing out both the Trojans and visiting Santaluces as they fought through a close fourth quarter. When the temperature and the pressure rose, the Trojans ( 11-7) came out ahead, stealing a 44-39 victory over their district rival, the No. 4 Chiefs (11-5).

“The heat was bad,” Lake Worth coach Markus Emerson said. “Everybody was exhausted. We were exhausted, they were exhausted.

“Their main player, Whitney (Howell), she was out of the fourth quarter. We saw that, so we just got in attack mode, one-and-on. But the heat did play a factor.”

Though the Trojans carried a lead from the middle of the second quarter into the beginning of the fourth, it looked like the Chiefs might have had the upper hand in the final period.

Santaluces got off to a 7-0 run to begin the fourth, thanks to six points from junior Emiah Downie. But Lake Worth did not get down on itself.

Junior Trojans guard Recilia Nonnombre briefly took over the game, long enough to get her team back ahead. She scored Lake Worth’s first points in the quarter — with just 3:35 left on the clock — then helped navigate her team around the court as they dribbled away nearly two minutes after Donyell Harris gave them the lead.

Nonnombre finished with 15 points.

“She’s 110 percent every night,” Emerson said. “She’s go, go, go. She runs out of gas every night, she’s on E. She’s going to fight, fight, fight. When the ball’s in her hand, I trust her, and she’s going to make it happen. She makes everyone around her better.”

The win avenges a 54-36 loss to Santaluces in November and helps Lake Worth’s position when it comes time to seed teams for the district tournament next month.

“We needed that,” Emerson said. “They beat us at their house, and we really needed to win tonight to set us up for getting a good spot in districts.”

Jupiter 47, Seminole Ridge 32: Aayden Ghee had 18 points and five rebounds and Lexi Lynch added 12 points and five steals to lead the Warriors (13-2) over the Hawks in Jupiter. Aneeshea Cason and Jahnae Midget each scored nine points for Seminole.

Benjamin 64, Yeshiva 23: Emma Laszewski had a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Hanna Hilcoff added six assists, five rebounds and three steals as the Buccaneers handled the Storm in Boca Raton.